LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 24: LiAngelo Ball #3 of Chino Hills High School shoots the ball during the game against Mater Dei High School at the Galen Center on February 24, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
The NBA’s summer league grants teams a chance to try out different rosters in order to figure out how they can improve their squads in the coming season. Whether they be freshly drafted rookies or incoming veterans, players in the summer league do their best to show teams that they can succeed on an NBA roster. Unfortunately for LiAngelo Ball, his hopes of joining the Lakers’ summer league team are not going to come to fruition just yet, as they officially informed Ball on Thursday night that he will not be invited.
The younger brother of Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball has worked out for the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors, but has yet to be drafted or brought on by any NBA team. LiAngelo has not been particularly impressive to NBA scouts, and the fact that he hasn’t been invited to a summer league doesn’t bode well for his NBA hopes.
However, the Lakers indicated that their decision not to invite Ball to the summer league extends past basketball itself. The Lakers told Ball that he would be put on a “a merit-based system” to go along with putting in impressive workouts, and the organization clearly isn’t satisfied with Ball’s effort on either end.
Ball and his two brothers became fixtures of the sports world in 2017 thanks to their father, LaVar Ball, being tremendously obnoxious and egotistical while working his kids up to be the greatest basketball players ever. While his Lonzo himself has been relatively low-key and had a decent rookie season with the Lakers, LaVar pulled LiAngelo out of UCLA after LiAngelo was charged with shoplifting while in China. Whether or not the Lakers have decided not to bring Ball into their summer league primarily due to off the court issues or his performance in workouts, one source claimed that “Obviously, there’s more to it than basketball.”
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Ball can still be invited to join another organization’s summer league team, but it seems most likely that he’ll spend the near future continuing to play in Lithuania.
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